1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to camper jack mounting assemblies and more specifically to apparatus for mounting camper jacks onto camper bodies.
2. Background Art
Camper bodies of the type which are mountable on truck beds have become increasingly popular. Lifting jacks are required in order to lift or move the camper bodies from the truck beds. Often, camper owners wish to deposit their campers on the ground at some location so that they can use their trucks separately. Alternately, the camper owners may wish to retain the camper bodies on the trucks, but may wish to stabilize them against undesired motion caused by movement within the camper body, or wind action against the side of the camper body.
For these purposes, hydraulic or mechanical jacks are attached to the camper, one jack being permanently secured on each corner of the camper body. One prior art method of securing the jack to the camper body has been use of a T-bracket having a T-shaped configuration. Part of the T-shape conforms to a corner edge of the camper body, with the remaining portion of the T projecting outwardly from the camper body. The jack is held to the camper body by being attached to this portion of the T-shaped bracket which projects outwardly.
Generally, a sphincter clamp is needed to clamp the jack to the outwardly projecting portion of the T-bracket along the top and the bottom of the jack. Attachment of the jack in this manner causes the jack to protrude from the camper in an unsightly and obtrusive manner. When protruding in this fashion, the jack is easily caught by passing objects. It is possible that the jacks may be torn off or badly bent when hit by passing objects.
An additional problem with the use of the T-brackets of the prior art is the fact that with sphincter clamps, the camper jacks cannot be removed easily when needed.
Further, the mounting of camper jacks with T-brackets and sphincter clamps is unattractive and unpleasing to the eye.